How To Know if You Suffer From Productivity Guilt
Is this some kind of joke? Do you mean that working harder is what is hindering the achievement of my goals?
You have big ambitions for your life, right? Maybe getting rich, or achieving an executive career, helping your family… whatever.
It makes you work stubbornly, making sure you don’t leave the office until you’re absolutely exhausted.
There is a high chance that you will suffer from productivity guilt.
What Exactly Is Productivity Guilt?
It’s the anxiety mindset when you’re not working. People who are fixated on achieving goals, growing their careers, and also their own bank account.
Thinking like that isn’t exactly wrong. It’s true that winning people always look to run that extra mile.
The problem happens when this mindset provokes exaggerated thoughts that narrow your mind. In this way, people with guilt become pessimistic, they are always thinking that they will not reach their goals and they make worse decisions.
There is a state of imbalance, which ignores any sense of well-being and progressively leads to a dark, energy-sucking mentality.
If you suffer from one or more of the symptoms below, you may want to think about whether you are suffering from productivity guilt.
You Confuse Being Busy With Being Productive
After an intensely stressful day, you keep trying to work, even if it’s not doing you any good. Even lost nights of sleep are common in your life.
Did you identify with that?
Well, that might be exactly what’s keeping you from growing up.
The so-called productivity consists of focusing on what generates 80% of the results with 20% of the effort. In other words, cut out unnecessary activities and focus only on the essentials.
Also, postponing non-crucial tasks is part of this process, although people with productivity guilt are afraid to do so.
You Feel Bad for Resting
The bodybuilder analogy here is perfect.
Every athlete sets aside at least one day a week for a break, and do you know why? Because it is at rest that muscles grow.
Non-stop exercise leads to catabolism, which causes muscles to atrophy rather than grow.
It’s the same with your mind. Without a certain level of idleness, your prefrontal cortex — the region responsible for rational decision-making (in a simplistic explanation), has its activity reduced.
That is, you can push it to the limits, but don’t forget that the limits are real.
You Compare Yourself to People Very Different From You
Imagine a broken, budding entrepreneur who wants to become a billionaire. What does he do? Begins to imitate the habits and techniques of billionaires.
But what works for some people — especially with such big differences — doesn’t work for others.
Instead, he should emulate someone who went from zero to $10k monthly in earnings. Then to someone who made $100k, and so on.
The existential abyss between people at such different levels only leads to frustration, making the dream goal even more distant, even with so much work.
You Only Have Eyes for Big Goals
A big mistake made by diehard people is to create a timeline without the unexpected.
Starting a business today doesn’t guarantee you’ll have a million dollars in six months. This could happen sooner, or it could happen much later.
Along the way, many things will happen that can help or hinder the achievement of your goal.
And here is the crux of the matter: the path. It’s much better to focus on proactive goals, which you have control over and can accomplish every day.
First, an expectation is created (not a goal), for example: with 100 customers it is possible to reach a million in sales. If it takes 1000 sales calls to get 100 customers, then your real goal is to make those calls.
Otherwise, you will be making your life orbit around something you have no control over and, of course, frustration will be certain.
Conclusion
Make the effort, run the extra mile, but drop your pride. You should envy people who achieve goals by working less, not people who work hard.
Otherwise, professions with long working hours would be the best paid and recognized. And, well, we know that’s not true, is it?
Allow yourself the essential rest for mental anabolism. That’s not laziness.
Using leisure wisely is critical to achieving daring goals. Otherwise, the pursuit of productivity will have negative impacts.
